Return of the Storm
by Jacen Starslayer
Summary: This story has been discontinued and is being remade as "Prophecy of Centra" Same cast, same basic plot, just the characters are more human and less over-powered.
1. Prologue

(Hey everyone. This is my first story, please be kind. I've been working on perfecting this story since I played Final Fantasy 8. I'll try to update as often as I can. Please R&R.)

_Thinking_

SPELL

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Prologue: The Beginning

It all began with the Lunar Cry, monsters from the moon fell to the earth reducing the military might of Esthar and summoning the worst evil imaginable. SeeD, an elite mercenary force lead by Squall Leonhart traveled into a time-compressed universe and with the aid of his friends, fought with the evil Sorceress Ultimecia, and defeated her. Afterwards, with the Sorceress defeated, and the world back at a state of peace, Squall, proposed to and married his girlfriend, Rinoa Heartily, the sorceress of this time period. A few months after they were married, Rinoa found out the she was pregnant, with a boy, whom they named Jay. Five years later, while on a picnic trip, Jay got separated from his parents. When they finally found him, he was attacked by a monster of unimaginable strength, but before Squall or Rinoa could interfere to save their son, a Guardian Force riding a six-legged horse appeared and sliced the monster in half. The Guardian Force was Odin, recently reborn from Gaia. Odin told Squall and Rinoa that Jay had inherited much of Rinoa's Sorcery powers, and that he would be a powerful weapon of Good or Evil, and as mysterious as Odin appeared, he disappeared. So heeding Odin's words, Squall enrolled his only son into Balamb Garden, a military school where Squall, Rinoa and all of his friends, lived and worked.

Thirteen years later, Galbadia has once again been taken over by a power-hungry tyrant bent on taking over the world. Only one force stands in his way, SeeD and their mobile bases, the Gardens…


	2. The Garden

I was trying to catch the favor of the Garden Academy, from a day to day. Please R&R.

Updates as soon as I get them written. I try to publish only quality work. In the words of George Lucas. "Stories are never truly completed, only abandoned."

FYI: This is the second draft, the original is in a notebook in my bedroom.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Only my characters and my plot.

_Thinking_

SPELLS

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Chapter 1: The Garden

"Jay Heartily, what was I talking about?" The teacher asked a boy in the back row.

"I haven't the foggiest clue, Instructor Trepe." The boy replied as he woke up. The boy was tall for being seventeen, almost six feet tall. Lightly built, but what he lacked in strength, he made up with brains, speed and magic. He wore a black leather biker jacket, a black tee-shirt, black denim pants, and a pair of leather boots. He was well-kept with a black headband accenting his mysteriously captivating brown eyes and his short brown hair.

"Then I would advise you to pay attention, to your teachers, then." The teacher said with a hint of venom in her voice.

"Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again." Jay exclaimed.

"See that it don't, Jay." She turned her attention back towards the class. "Now class, what are the advantages of using magic in battle?"

A girl in the back row raised her hand. The instructor called on her.

"Miss Ballek, do you know the answer to the question?"

"Yes Instructor Trepe, I do." The girl answered.

"Then tell us the answer."

"Yes ma'am. It allows us to defeat our opposition at a longer range then with most conventional weapons." The girl replied. Jay turned to look at the girl, he saw a brunette girl of about 16, dressed in a black short sleeved body suit that was covered by a pair of red denim cover-off shorts and a red denim vest. She appeared very tomboyish and he assumed that she could probably hold her own in a fight.

"Excellent answer, but in some cases you'd be wrong." The Instructor said, and then she looked at Jay before continuing, "Jay Heartily, maybe you can enlighten us."

"As you wish, the use of magic in battle can do many things that modern technology cannot. Magic can heal, boost our abilities, inflict disabilities on our enemies, and cause destruction. Magic is in most cases more reliable than any machine." Jay stated.

"An excellent answer, you have been studying. Haven't you." The Instructor said, before looking down at her watch, "Oh look at the time. Class is dismissed."

With that all the students filed out of the classroom. As Jay got up out of his seat and headed towards the door when a large man with blonde spiked hair wearing a black jumpsuit, an armored shoulder pad, and a pair of combat boots walked over to him.

"Jay, I've been looking all over for you." The man said.

"For what, Ramathorn?" Jay asked the man.

"I want a battle with you two-on-two. In the Training Center after dark." Ramathorn said.

"Why not one-on-one?" Jay asked, "Or are you chicken."

"I just want a challenge. You in?"

"I never back down from a challenge, and you know it Ramathorn." Jay said with a fearless look in his eye. Ramathorn reared his head and laughed.

"I knew you'd go with the challenge, find a partner for tonight." Ramathorn ordered before turning and walking off to the training center.

"Yeah sure, like I can find a partner by tonight." Jay muttered to himself.

Then he went to the elevator so that he could go downstairs to his dorm to retrieve his weapons before heading to his next class, Advanced Close-Combat.

When he got to the class, the Instructor, Zell Dincht, was standing there pairing students for sparring. The teacher looked at him and said, "Jay Heartily?"

"Yes sir…" Jay replied. _I still need to find a battle partner for tonight._

"Okay, class. Today we will be sparring. The line-up will be Kristina against Argon, Cherea against John, Ramathorn versus Heather, Sara versus Sora and Vortex versus Jay. You may begin when you are ready." The instructor exclaimed.

Jay walked over to the fighting ring where Vortex was. Jay looked his opponent up and down to determine any weakness. Vortex was a built man of seventeen, he had platinum hair and glowing emerald eyes. He wore a black leather trenchcoat, black leather pants, black leather boots, and around his neck he wore a steel necklace of a wolf. Jay knew all about Vortex, because Vortex was the leader of the Wolf Pack, a group of the most powerful SeeD cadets.

"Are you ready Vortex?" Jay said as he drew one of his Katanas out of the scabbard.

"You can't beat me but I'll humor you." The platinum-haired warrior said as he drew his own weapon, the powerful Naginata.

"We shall see. I am one of best swordsman in this school." Jay said as he swung a powerful falling slash, which Vortex caught with the shaft of his Naginata, Vortex turned his Naginata and delivered an accurate side kick, which sent Jay reeling back.

"I know you're good but you still make amateur mistakes. Try to handle this, Blood Line!" Vortex said as he activated his most diabolical technique. The blade of his Naginata started to glow an emerald green color, Vortex's Speed increased greatly and he swung a falling slash at his downed opponent. Luckily, Jay brought up his katana and deflected the attack.

"Damn your strong, Hayate." Jay said as he used a technique to make him more accurate and faster as he stood up.

"That won't save you. You're just delaying the inevitable." Vortex taunted before attacking his opponent. He swung the blade in a tight circle, slashing and knocking Jay's Katana out of his hands. "Accept defeat, Jay." He continued.

"I never give up!" Jay retorted by bringing both of his arms back and adopting a crouching tiger stance.

"I have already won, Jay." Vortex exclaimed by laughing.

"Then finish the battle, you know the rules; you have to deliver a finishing move to win, or make me surrender, which will never happen. And anyway I'm much more dangerous unarmed than armed…" Jay taunted his hands glowed a faint yellow-color.

"Fine!" He said as he leapt into the air, to execute a move that could cut through armor.

"Checkmate." Jay said as he punched both hand towards Vortex, "Light Pillar!"

A huge, wide, sickly yellow chi blast shot out of his palms, completely engulfing Vortex in its devastating power. The force of the blast hit him like a freight train, sending him across the room and crashing him hard against the wall at the other side. Immediately after the chi blast dissipatated, Vortex fell from the ceiling to the floor. He then stood up and shook off the dirt and dust from his jacket. The look on Jay's face said it all, _oh shit, that was my best technique_.

"Draw your sword, Jay. And then get your other one. I will admit that Chi blast hurt like a bitch, but it still wasn't enough to beat me." Vortex shouted from the other end of the training grounds.

Jay complied, as he reached for his blades he thought, _I can't beat him with my usual techniques, I'll have to try something new._ He twirled his Katanas around trying to think of something as Vortex walked back to the ring. _He's stronger and much faster than me; as long as I stick with one-handed weapons he'll easily beat me._ Jay looked at his weapons, he had been given those swords from the Weapon shop owner in Balamb for Christmas, they featured interlocking end caps so that he could hold them both while he used magic in battle. _That's it, if I link them together, it will catch Vortex off guard and then I can beat him. But I never mastered the techniques for it. Oh well, it's the best plan that I've got._ With that, Jay reversed his grip on the blades so that both of the blades appeared out of the bottom of his hands, he brought the two end caps together and rotated the handles so that they locked. He had just finished linking the two swords, when Vortex entered the ring.

"Getting desperate?" Vortex inquired. He adopted his usual stance, which basically appeared like he didn't care about this match. His Naginata was across his shoulders like he wasn't even going to use it.

"I've still got a couple of tricks left up my sleeve." Jay countered as he adopted a middle half-guard. The rest of his classmates had already finished their matches, so they were forming a circle around to watch the most exciting battle of the class. Jay charged forward his blade spinning in every direction. Vortex performed an infinity loop, his blade hit Jay's shaft, disrupting Jay's attack and stunning him temporarily. A powerful rising slash to the center of Jay's interconnected swords sent it spiraling upward out of Jay's grasp and the roundhouse kick following the slash knocked Jay over. Vortex left hand rose up and caught the linked swords and as Jay got up, Vortex brought both Jay's double sword and his Naginata inches from Jay's neck, symbolizing a finishing move.

"Nice try. Keep practicing, Jay." Vortex said as he removed the blades from his neck. Vortex then walked away to join the rest of the Wolf Pack to celebrate their victories. John, Sara, and Ramathorn patted Vortex on his back.

Three of his fellow classmates walked over to Jay to tell him that he did an awesome job against Vortex. Jay stood up; He then separated the halves of his sword, and sheathed them. He looked towards them; he recognized them as Argon Reinharht, the paladin; Heather Ballek, the monk; and her twin sister Cherea Ballek, the Martial artist mage.

"Well done, Heartily. I doubt that I could've done any better against Venters." Argon said, giving off the appearance of the wise, powerful man.

Argon was a tall man about six and a half feet tall. His blond hair was spiked, and in the sunlight coming down from the ceiling, it glittered like golden fire. He wore his usual adamantine battle armor that was given to him from his deceased father, on the armor's left breast and right shoulder pad was an unreflective black Sword cross, probably made of darksteel. The armor plates covered only his chest and abdomen area, while an indestructible black fabric body suit covered the rest of his body. His head was protected by an adamantine face mask that reminded Jay of the ninjas of ancient times. There was only one thing on his person that looked out of place and that was the large earring dangling from his left earlobe, it was of some indiscernible religious symbol. At his side was his custom gunblade, a modified Lionheart model, the blade was made of pure adamantine with a darksteel cross embedded in the blade, the blade itself was unique in that it ended with a sort of fork at the end, _rumor had it that the sword was called the Relinquished. The story went that the wielder's soul would always reside in the blade, and could never be relinquished so long as the wielder had a quest to complete. Of course that is only a rumor._ He was the oldest member of the group, eighteen to be in fact.

"Jay, of the entire class, you are the only one he has respect for." Heather said, with a something that resembled, someone trying to cheer them up.

Heather Ballek and her twin were both shorter than Jay but only by a couple of inches. Heather was the anti-social one where as her twin, Cherea, was extremely sociable. Heather wore her favorite black short sleeved bodysuit with the red denim cut-off shorts and matching denim vest, she also wore a pair of brown knee-high leather boots. Her collapsible metal quarterstaff was in sheath on her back, conveniently located for easy access when she needed it. She wore her long light brown hair in a simple ponytail, which further added to her tomboyish appearance. Each of her vest pockets, contained medicinal herbs to heal injured people that she met. Both of the Ballek twin were about a year younger than both of the boys. Her jade eyes appeared to shine from an unearthly power held within.

"After the Field Exam, a bunch of us are celebrating in the hotel at Balamb. Do you want to come?" Cherea inquired, her excitement and adulation brought a smile to his face.

Where Heather was simple and plain, her twin was not. She wore a snow white renaissance style shirt with very large sleeves, _probably to conceal her Sais_, Jay thought, over which she wore a blue low-cut body suit that laced up the front. A pair of dark blue renaissance velvet boots styled after a fencer's or princess' boots completed her medieval attire. She wore her long blond hair pulled back and tied off at the bottom of her by a dark blue ribbon. Her sapphire eyes glowed with admiration for Jay.

Jay turned to face them, to ask them to join him for his battle with Ramathorn, but he decided against it. Instead he said: "Thanks for cheering me up, you guys, but I've got to run." _That should do it, I'd much rather be thought of the guy who never backs down from a challenge, then the one who asks for help all the time._

"Ok, Jay, We'll talk to you later. Good luck tonight." Heather said. "We will be cheering for you."

Color drained from Jay's face. _They knew about the challenge this whole time, why didn't they say something about it._ _Oh well, there's nothing that I can do about that now. _He started walking towards his dorm when his stomach made an angry growl. _Damn, I forgot that I missed breakfast this morning. Better head to the cafeteria._ He thought.


	3. The Cafeteria

This chapter is for comic relief. Enjoy. R&R.

As always, I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY 8 only my story and cast.

Characters based off of my friends. Some inspiration come from Naruto, Bleach, Devil May Cry, and Legend of Dragoon.

Updates as often as I get them written.

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Chapter 2: The Cafeteria

He rounded the corner and entered the cafeteria, only to hear Vortex's voice, he sat in a nearby booth to listen to the conversation.

"Ramathorn, why did you challenge Jay to a battle, tonight?" Vortex inquired rather angry.

"Vortex, I didn't know that you would be fighting him in class." Ramathorn's normally cocky voice sounded odd when he was placed on the defensive.

"Vortex, perhaps this turn of events, might instead prove beneficial to Jay." John Starslayer, the wise member of the Pack suggested. His platinum hair glittered as he turned to face Vortex. The rest of the Wolf Pack looked at him like he was insane. Perhaps he was, but John was the tactical genius of the group. Throughout Garden, rumors flew that John could see the future and based on that could determine the right course of action.

"How do you figure that?" Vortex asked inquisitively.

"Think about it, you defeated him very easily, you said yourself that he tried a different style of fighting to try and catch you off guard. He saw his weaknesses, and your strengths, and tried to use them to his advantages. By making him focus on two members of the group. Where each of the members has trained together to an unheard of level, making the group near unbeatable, he has to find a partner that could work with him as well as we do." John said, none of which made any sense to anyone but Vortex.

"So by pushing him into a corner, with no chance of success, he will become stronger?" Vortex asked his friend.

"Theoretically." John replied.

"Ok, what do you propose that we do?"

"I propose that Ramathorn and I take on Jay and whomever he gets as a partner."

"That sounds good to me. Ramathorn? Sara?" Vortex turned to the other members of the Wolf Pack. They nodded their heads in agreement.

"Ok, I want you all to be ready and in the training center by 2000." Vortex ordered them. The Wolf Pack went their separate ways, to do their preparations for the upcoming battles. Jay hid his face as Sara walked by. A couple seconds later, John walked over to where Jay was seated and said:

"Heartily. It's been a while." Jay looked up to see the owner of the voice. Not four feet away from him was John Starslayer. John was three inches shorter, and about fifteen pounds lighter, but the way his platinum hair covered his glowing ice blue eyes sent shivers down Jay's spine. John wore a black sleeveless shirt that had archaic symbols and eye motifs on it, _his choice of clothing scared a lot of people_, pitch-black leather pants, and black leather boots only added to the effect. He used a dual blade style like Jay's but John's emphasized more on piercing and thrusting, instead of slashing. Even John's weapons scared Jay, the twin magical blades that ignored armor and sliced through everything like a hot knife through butter. Jay couldn't remember seeing John fight without his energy swords. He was the second person to join the Wolf Pack with Vortex and they look for the best fighters of the Garden for their group. John was insanely strong and lightning fast. Jay wouldn't be looking forward to this upcoming battle.

"Hey John, what's up?" Jay said calmly, but his face showed the fear he held inside.

"I'm just telling you that tonight, Ramathorn and I will be your opponents. I hope by then you will have found a partner." John said before turning and walking away.

_ This is going to be an exciting battle, hopefully I'll find a partner before it is time._ Jay thought, before his stomach intervened. _Oh yeah, I need food…_With that thought in mind he walked over to the counter and placed his order.

"I need a double cheese burger meal." Jay asked the lunch-lady, before handing her his student ID to pay for the meal. She scanned the ID.

"Jay Heartily, ID.77327" She said out loud. He nodded. "Good luck tonight."

_ Damn, does everyone know about the fight tonight. My luck sucks. And I still don't have a partner for tonight._ Just then his instructor, Zell Dincht, entered the cafeteria, he walked over to the cafeteria lady, and he asked her:

"Do you have any hot dogs left?" The lunch lady nodded her head, before grabbing a tray marked 'For Zell Dincht.' Zell smiled and thanked her before stuffing his face with the hot dogs. An idea came to Jay to ask Zell for help, but he decided against it. _I will not ask a teacher for help._ Zell saw Jay waiting for his meal, he walked over to Jay, and tried to say something with his mouth completely stuffed with the hot dogs, but it came out completely unintelligible.

"Say what Instructor?" Jay asked Zell, who realized that his message couldn't be delivered, swallowed the large amount of food in his mouth.

"You don't need to find a partner for tonight, someone asked me to tell you that they'd meet you there at 2030, for the fight. Instructor Tilmitt, will be there to heal the defeated so that the fallen would still be capable to participate in the Field Exam Tournament, tomorrow." Zell stated which only seemed to add to Jay's confusion.

"What!?! We're not going to get in trouble for engaging in a 2-on-2 match after curfew."

"The Commander and the Headmaster agreed that it would be an excellent lesson on team work, so he requested that all SeeD Cadets who will be participating in the Field Exam, come to the Training Center and watch the match. In fact, the Commander's wife will be watching as well."

"Ok…So who's my partner?" Jay asked, still waiting for his food. Zell looked at him and said:

"Does it matter? It's someone who wants to help you, and is brave enough to face the Wolf Pack." With that said he walked out and continued stuffing his face with hot dogs.

Jay thought for a minute over what Instructor Dincht said, before sitting down to eat. As he took the first bite, he forgot all about the upcoming challenge. The burger filled Jay with euphoria. _The Garden is known for its hot dogs, but damn, I never expected, the burgers to be this good. _As he was enjoying his burger, a woman of about seventeen sat down next to him.

"Hey Kristina, what's up?" Jay stammered out in shock of seeing her sit next to him.

Kristina Almasy was about five and a half feet tall, shoulder length blond hair, sky blue eyes, beautiful as an angel. She wore a black tank top, a black skirt over black shorts, black boots, black vambraces (wrist bracers), and a black wool cape completed the ensemble. She was the greatest warrior in Balamb Garden and one of the few gunblade users in the world. Jay didn't know anything else about her because she spent her free-time training and practicing with her Hyperion style gunblade.

"Jay Heartily, I'm here to tell you that part of the reason that you were challenged was because Vortex has taken an interest in you. He is going to try recruiting you into the Wolf Pack, like he tried recruiting me, last year. Be careful and good luck." She started to get up from the table, when Jay called out to ask her a question:

"Why did you turn Vortex down, that never made any sense to me?"

Now it was Kristina's turn to be shocked. _Someone took an interest in me!?!_ She thought quickly before answering.

"I turned him down, because by then Ramathorn and Sara had made the Wolf Pack more into a group of bullies, then the high prestigious group that Vortex and John first envisioned." She then turned quickly and left Jay, alone at the table.

Jay pondered over her reply for a moment, before he was interrupted by a graduate, a full-fledged SeeD.

"Are you Jay Heartily?" The SeeD said with a deep and intimidating yet at the same time very commanding. Jay turned to look at the person. The SeeD was about as tall as him but a little more built. He wore a black armored body suit with a red trench coat over top of it. His short brown hair was cut in a military style.

"Yes, sir!" Jay responded quickly. He stood up as he said it, the table moved forward as his torso hit it. The SeeD sighed at the boy's clumsiness.

"Grab your equipment and meet me in the Training room at," he paused briefly to look at his watch, it was 1335, "1400, armed and ready to practice."

"Yes sir!"

The SeeD turned and walked out of the cafeteria, after a few seconds he was gone. Jay turned around and grabbed what was left of his meal. He quickly walked over to the trashcan and dumped the trash. He then ran over to the dormitory section of the Garden.


	4. Women Trouble

My girlfriend (at the time) co-authored it. Reminds me a little of the relationship between Naruto and Sakura, in Naruto. But it's based off of me and my girl (at the time). BTW: I'm terrible with costume design. Almost all my cast is in black. Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks go out to LadySora and known as r. Sorry it took so long to thank you both.

Enjoy. Please R&R.

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Chapter 3: Women Trouble

Jay's room was a small, but mostly messy. His desk was cluttered with papers and discs, containing notes and homework assignments. His bed reminded him of this morning, his sheets were everywhere and the clothes that he wore to bed were sitting on the floor, where he left them this morning, in a hurry to make it to homeroom on time. Propped up against the wall where he left them was his twin Katanas and their metal sheaths. He grabbed them and strapped the sheaths on to his back. He turned and left the room, locking the door behind him. He ran towards the main hall, when he got to the door, he bumped into a young girl. She fell back on to the floor, her text books and papers flying everywhere.

"Ow!" The girl said as the started to get up off the floor. When she got up from the floor, she started to poke him with her pointer finger. "You should watch where you're going. You could've hurt someone." Jay looked at the girl trying to figure her out.

The girl was a little under five and a half feet, and pretty slender. She was wearing a black leather sleeveless vest that zipped up the front, a pair of black leather gloves, a black leather mini-skirt and a pair of black leather hiking boots completed the tomboyish look to her. Her long dark brown hair flowed back into a long ponytail that ended close to the bottom of her skirt.

She turned away from him and began to gather her papers.

"I'm sorry, miss." Jay spoke to the girl trying to make amends, "Is there anything that I can do to make amends?"

She turned to him, with and stern look in her eye.

"You can start by helping me carry my books to my room." She suggested with a cutesy look in her eye, like the look of hungry little puppy begging you for food. It had no effect on Jay.

"Um…Can I take a rain check on that? I'm kind of in a hurry." Jay said before trying to walk away. The girl's soft, cute look grew stern as she began to pummel him.

"What kind of man are you? You big meanie! Refusing to help an adorable cutie, like me." The girl said as she continued hitting him, Jay could tell that she wasn't using her full strength.

"Stop hitting me please!" Jay cried out in pain his arms in front of him, trying to protect him, "I'll carry your books. You don't have to get violent."

"Now that's more like it." She stopped the pummeling, "See guys can be reasonable." She started walking away, as Jay struggled to pick up her books.

"Damn, these books are heavy. How many classes do you have?" Jay stammered his face was red as he strained to carry the piles of textbooks; his face was almost hidden by the pile.

"Only ten." She replied carelessly. "I have no problems with it. You seem strong…What's your problem?"

"Well, sorry. I really didn't want to do this."

"What?!" She gave him a look _THAT_ could _KILL_.

"Umm…I meant I'm just a little weak at the moment, no worries." He tried to play it off but the girl knew he was faking it. She than began to run.

"Try and keep up!!!" Jay's face went pale. He mumbled under his breath.

"God, women are weird."

"What did you say?! Get your ass over here!!!"

"Coming!!!" He "ran" to catch up with her. When he made it to her room she opened the door, grabbed her books with one hand and went in without thanking Jay.

"Ungrateful bitch." As soon as he said it, the door came flying open and a gloved hand grabbed Jay by the collar and lifted him up towards the ceiling..

"Did you just say something?"

"No, nothing." Jay stammered, scared of making her even more mad.

"Good. Have a nice day!" She said with a smile, before she released her grip on him. Immediately afterwards she slammed the door behind her.

Jay regained his composure, or at least tried to, began walking away from the mysterious girl's dorm room door.

"That was scary. Women are very odd." He said to himself, he looked at his watch, it said that it was 1350. "Shit, I better move quickly or else I'll be late."

He headed towards the Training Center, running carefully to avoid any other "Incidents".


	5. Decante's Duel

Crazy comical fight scene, enjoy. I know I did. ^_^!

R&R. Thanks everyone.

Next chapter will be up once I'm satisfied with it. Sorry for the ridiculously long wait.

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Chapter 4: Decante's Duel

He had just entered the Training Center, when the deep commanding voice of the full-fledged SeeD spoke.

"Heartily, you're late."

Jay looked at his watch, it said 1401, and then at the owner of the voice. Just as he started to open his mouth to speak, the SeeD said.

"I said to be here at 1400, ready to practice. And look at you; you couldn't even defend yourself properly, if you were attacked NOW." Jay had just enough time to realize that the SeeD placed emphasis on the last word, when a large black and red figure with a massive sword jumped in front of him. Jay started to back away from the swordsman, when he heard the report of a firearm; he turned in time to hear the bullet fly past his ear.

"Shit!" Jay cursed his luck, as the swordsman charged at him with a sword similar in design to Ramathorn. The man swung his sword in a wide horizontal arc that Jay was barely able to block with his sword. He heard the report again, and seconds before impact, he summoned a SHIELD spell to protect him from the Rifle shot.

"Pling" Came the sound of the bullet as it hit, Jay's SHIELD. As he turned to locate the shooter, only to give the swordsman an opening, the swordsman took it. He swung his sword, it made contact…with Jay's SHIELD. Jay heard the report of the rifle, and dropped to his back to flip the swordsman into the path of the bullet. The swordsman used his sword like a shield and stopped the bullet from impacting.

"Fuck, I guess I got to use the sheath now." Carefully, watching the swordsman's movements, Jay pulled the metal sheath from his right side; he then sheathed his sword and began tying the sheath to his hand.

The swordsman unaware of Jay's style change, or rather uncaring, charged at him. The shooter moved in closer to get a better view of her target. She brought her sawed off lever-action rifle to bare, stared down the sights, _it was a_ _simple shot, all too easy._ Jay wasn't moving only tying his sheath to his hand. She spoke into her headset:

"Aether, be careful! He's up to something."

The swordsman, Aether, replied back as he was charging:

"I know, but he won't get be able to finish it, if I hit him first. Give me some cover fire."

The Shooter stared down the sights, estimating the time and distance to the target. Her right index finger, tightened around the trigger, the rifle roared to life.

"BOOM!" came the report of the rifle. The bullet flew towards Jay only to impact against the magic shield.

"Crap, how can I hit him?" she cursed under her breath. Just then she remembered that she had one Mage-killer bullet in her bag of ammunition, she dug out the round and loaded it into the rifle. She cocked the lever, drew a bead on Jay's right arm and said a prayer, before caressing the trigger. Again the rifle roared to life. The bullet flew towards Jay, his shield moved to nullify it but the bullet dispelled the shield. Jay barely moved out the way in time as Aether's sword impacted against the metal sheath of Jay's sword, pushing him backward on to the ground. The bullet flew on its course and impacted on Aether's sword.

The force of Aether's attack made Jay's head hit the ground, knocking him unconscious. Aether stood up and walked towards the Shooter and the SeeD, his sword resting over his shoulder.

"Sensai, we won." Aether said as he wiped the dust and dirt from his face.

The SeeD looked at his two students, Aether Subock and Jeriel Blair.

Aether was a pretty tall guy of about seventeen, heavy muscular. His black short sleeved shirt, bulged as it tried to cover up his muscles, and a black combat vest helped to not arouse his female friends. A pair of black armored pants protected his lower body from harm, and around his waist, was a red belt, with a pouch of unknown contents. A red head band was wrapped around his head accenting his hazel eyes and very short dark brown hair. Black fingerless gloves and black leather combat boots completed the battle dress of Jason Decante's strongest student. His weapon of choice was a large six foot adamantine sword that appeared to be made of six separate swords and probably weighed as much as he did.

Where Aether was large and heavily muscular, his companion, Jeriel was short and slender, with a dancer's build. She was a beauty, that much was obvious, her medium length auburn hair, flowed carelessly in the wind, it contrasted with her dark almond colored eyes. She wore a black leather halter top that was snap buckled in three places, around her neck, slightly below her shoulder blades, and two inches above her tailbone, the bottom of it ended showing off her belly button. She also wore a pair of black leather pants were tight and form-fitting, and was held up by a red belt, which had a side pack to hold spare ammunition for her rifle. Strapped to her back was a large leather holsters for her rifle. A pair of mid-calf black boots and a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. Her weapon was a small sawed-off lever-action rifle, which featured a ten-round internal magazine.

"Instructor Decante. What do we do now?" Jeriel asked as she slung her rifle into its holster.

"Well…" Jason Decante, the SeeD said to his students.

Jason Decante, was well-known as the hardest instructor in Garden, and also as the best SeeD as well. He always wore a black form-fitting armored body suit that covered his whole body with a black trenchcoat over it. A pair of black leather underarm holsters carried a pair of custom .45 caliber semi-automatic pistols, one was black and designed for long-range target shooting, and the other was white and was optimized for close combat. Strapped to his back, was a sheathed Katana, for use in his Seikengard style. The Seikengard style was a sword style created by the Decante family, to protect a swordsman from projectile weapons. It used chi energy and hyperfast movements to churn up the air to form an almost indestructible barrier from elemental spells, bullets and ray attacks. Jason's short brown hair was cut into a military crewcut, so as to give Jason the best view of the battlefield. He was tall, a little over six feet in height, more muscular than Jay but less than Aether and Ramathorn. He had the look of a hardened professional, as well as a deadly adversary.

Jason noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye, as Jay started to stand up. He pointed his thumb, towards Jay.

"Looks like you aren't done yet."

Aether brought his sword into a combative stance. He rushed towards Jay, his sword out and ready to do some damage.

Jay just stood there with his head downward, his katana still sheathed. Jeriel calmly drew her rifle out of its holster; she spun the rifle around her finger, triggering the lever to reload it.

Aether swung his sword at Jay with enough force to split a man in two. Jay brought the sheath up and with his thumb, pulled the sword out a hair. Aether's sword came down and hit the blade of Jay's katana. With his thumb, he quickly pushed on the tsuba of the sword and applied pressure to it to keep Aether's sword locked up. Aether tried to force his sword out, but he couldn't budge it.

Aether's eyes widened from fear, for Jay lifted his head and where he had dark brown eyes before now it was a deep crimson like the color of flesh blood. Aether wanted to get as far away as possible from Jay, since he could feel Jay's magic strength start to surround him like a flame of pure energy, Aether could see lightning start to form in his right hand. He tried to get away, out of pure terror for he watched as the lightning started rotating and becoming a sphere of electricity.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Aether tried to release the sword but his hands from the sword. They were frozen to the hilt, and when he tried to run away, he found his legs frozen to the ground. The sphere of lightning started to speed up as it rotated faster and faster. "Jeriel, help me!" Aether called out helpless and at Jay's mercy, "I need you to cast Shell on me, now!"

Jeriel heard Aether's whimpering cries for help, which was completely unusual for Aether. She closed her eyes and began to channel energy into Aether to cast the spell, Shell. Just as the spell was cast, Jay forced the ball of lightning into Aether's gut. Aether screamed in pain as he felt lightning coursing through his body, a million volts of electricity. He collapsed to the ground from the pain with a deafening thud, silent and still. His sword remained stuck into between his sword and sheath, he casually tossing the 260 pound sword over his shoulder and it stuck into the ground. Jay turned his attention to Jeriel, she aimed her lever-action rifle at Jay and pulled the trigger. Then she spun the rifle around her finger, before aiming at Jay and firing again one-handed, she emptied her entire rifle this way.

Jay's left hand rose, while still holding his sheath, in the direction of Jeriel. In a fraction of a heartbeat, the bullet traveled to the location that Jay was standing.

"Pling, pling, pling, pling, pling, pling, plin," Went the bullets as they impacted Jay's magical barrier. She was a quarter of the way to reloading the rifle, when she noticed Jay's index and middle fingers' tips of his right hand, start glowing with chi energy. She began channeling energy into one of the bullets already loaded; she spun the rifle around her index finger, aimed and fired, just as Jay pointed his right hand at her with what looked like a double barreled finger pistol.

"Pulsar Cannon!" Jay cried out as he shot out two spiraling beams of pure chi energy towards Jeriel.

Seconds before impact, Jason appeared next to her and tackled her out of the path of the attack. The bullet traveled toward the ground at Jay's feet and exploded. The shockwave of the Holy spell knocked Jay off his feet and onto the ground where he hit his head for a second time.

A few minutes later, Jay woke up to see down the business end of a black .45 caliber handgun. His brown eyes were wide from the fear.

"I surrender!" Jay said. Jason spun his handgun around his right index finger before holstering it under his left armpit. He then reached down with his gloved left hand and pulled him up.

Sitting on the ground, not even ten feet away was Aether, being bandaged up by Jeriel.

"This will only hurt for a second." Jeriel said as she wrapped a cotton bandage around his belly.

"OWWWWW" Aether screamed from the pressure of the bandage.

"Don't be such a baby, you _only_ have third degree burns from the electrical attack." Jeriel responded to Aether's cries.

"But it still hurts." Aether said, "If wasn't for that Shell spell, we wouldn't be having this conversation and you'd be sad."

Jeriel paused a second to think before answering.

"Looks like it's a good thing, I watch your back."

"And here I thought you just enjoyed the view." Aether smirked as he spoke.

Jeriel smiled warmly as she punched him in the wound.

"Ow, what was that for?" Aether asked.

"I just felt like hitting you, that's all." She responded warmly.

Jason turned away from his two students, towards Jay.

"Jay, I asked you here today, to get a taste of what you are capable of. I heard that you needed a partner for the duel, and since I had a grudge against them, I volunteered." He admitted.

Jay tried to say something but he couldn't find the words.

"Come on, we've got to give you some special training, if you are to survive this challenge." Jason said as he signaled Jay to come over.

Jay hurried over to Jason, to further prepare for his fight tonight.


	6. Challenge of the Wolf Pack

Sorry for the really long delay. I'm going to continue posting because, this story has taken me too long to get right. Please review and leave me some critique. If you are confused by the end then well, wait and I will explain all in a later chapter. And by the way, I just wanted to get through this chapter so I can get on to better chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8.

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Chapter 5: The Challenge of the Wolf Pack

Jay and Jason had just finished Jay's training, when the Wolf Pack and the rest of his classmates began pouring into the Training Center.

Instructor Dincht walked over to Vortex and asked him to say a few words. With a smile on his face, Vortex began to speak.

"Fellow classmates, thank you for coming tonight for our demonstration about teamwork. I wish both sides good luck and may the best team win." He bowed towards Jay and Jason and walked towards the bleachers. He sat next to the fourth member of the Wolf Pack, and nodded towards John. John nodded back to signify that he received the message.

Instructors Tilmitt and Trepe created a magical barrier around the ring to protect the students from the attacks that might be employed.

Jason looked at Jay and said: "I'll take Ramathorn, you take Starslayer. I'll help you out after I take him down."

Jason reached under his coat for his handguns, and drew them.

Ramathorn lifted his enormous sword out of the bardic scabbard on his back.

"Are you ready to lose, Heartily?" Ramathorn taunted as he brought his giant sword into a standard combative stance.

"Not today, Ramathorn." Jay replied as he drew one of his swords out of its sheath.

"You ready, Jay? I foresee your defeat in four moves. Ready yourself." John said as he drew a pair of rapiers out of thin air. He twirled his twin swords around his hands. He then adopted a fencing stance.

Instructor Dincht called to the fighters in the ring.

"Ok, the only rule to this battle is that summoning a Guardian Force is forbidden. You may begin when ready."

With that said, the fight began. Jason aimed his handguns at Ramathorn and began firing rapidly and running to the other side of the ring to separate the two members of the Wolf Pack.

"BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!" Came the report of Jason's handguns in unison.

Ramathorn twirled his sword around in an infinity loop, preventing the impact of the bullets. He then drove his mighty sword into the ground, causing a small earthquake centered around him. Jason was thrown into the air, he continued to fire his handguns randomly at Ramathorn.

"Earth." Ramathorn then swung his giant sword at the airborne instructor, a flash of wind energy flew towards him. "Wind."

The blade of wind energy flew towards Jason, he quickly cast a REFLECT spell causing the wind blade to veer off course.

"You ready to lose, Heartily?" John said as his left hand rapier disappeared into thin air. He brought his left hand up to his face, charging his fingertips with chi. Jay charged towards him, channeling wind energy into his sword. "Time to lose, Jay." His opened left hand pointed toward the charging SeeD Cadet and sent a powerful shockwave towards him, momentarily stunning him. A silvery rapier appearing from nowhere, in his left hand, and then he was gone. A sharp pain in his chest, and the sudden lack of strength in his entire body, told him that he had gotten his ass kicked, plus the fact that John's voice was coming from behind him. "Sorry about that, I said you would be defeated in four moves, but you probably only felt one. Good night." Jay's vision darkened and he fell to the ground, unconscious in a puddle of his blood. John released his rapiers and they disappeared in thin air. "Teleport." John said as he cast the spell.

Jay's bloody unconscious body appeared outside the protective barriers that Quistis and Selphie had cast and right to the resident doctor, Doctor Kadowaki and some of the medical staff.

"Now instructor, where were we?" John's cold eyes towards on the instructor, just as Ramathorn fell to his knees. One of his slender swords reappearing in his right hand, he was a good thirty feet from his next opponent. _Soon it will all be over._ He thought to himself with a small smile upon his face.

"You losing?" Jason suggested as he twirled his pistols around his fingers, before holstering them. His right hand inching towards his sword's hilt.

"No, you." John whispered in Jason's left ear, Jason's eyes grew wide probably from being skewered on John's sword. His ice cold eyes focused on observing his foe, before whispering in his defeated foe's ear. "You fought well, now rest. Teleport."

Jason's almost dead body appeared next to his unconscious partner under the care of the good doctor and her staff.


End file.
